Section 1 l challenge

Spiritual
Leadership
LTCi course 602
EBI courses 115 & 224

Wednesday 2 November 2011

115 - This course focuses on how to teach and practice
the principles of spiritual leadership. Topics
include the leader’s challenge, role, preparation,
vision, character, goal, inﬂuence, decisions, schedules,
pitfalls, and rewards.


Required Textbooks

115
Henry Blackaby and Richard Blackaby.
Spiritual Leadership: Moving
People on to God’s Agenda.
J. Oswald Sanders. Spiritual
Leadership: A Commitment to
Excellence for Every Believer.


115 Spiritual Leadership
Learning Outcomes

The student who successfully
completes this course will be able to:
1." Describe the leader’s challenge.
2." Describe the leader’s role.
3." Describe the leader’s preparation.
4." Describe the leader’s vision.
5." Describe the leader’s character.
6." Describe the leader’s goal.


6." Describe the leader’s goal.
7." Describe the leader’s inﬂuence.
8." Describe the leader’s decisions.
9." Describe the leader’s schedule.
10."Describe the leader’s pitfalls.
11."Describe the leader’s rewards.


Section 1 - The Leader’s Challenge

Group Activity: Create a one-page visual
summary of the leader’s challenge.
Study the Preface and chapter 1 in Blackaby
Study chapters 1-2 in Sanders
Subscribe to the free online Leadership
Journal
Newsletter:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/lyris/
subscribe/leadership.html


The Leader’s
Challenge
Section 1
Preface and chapter 1 in Blackaby
Chapters 1-2 in Sanders


All Christians should desire to
be leaders in the church.
It is better for the position to
seek out the person than for
the person to seek out the
position
Discuss which position a
Christian should take

The book was originally a
series of lectures delivered to
leaders of the Overseas
missionary Fellowship at
conferences in Singapore in
1964 and 1966
Language, illustrations etc.
have been updated


Chapter 1:
An Honorable Ambition
Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an
overseer desires a noble task.
1 Timothy 3:1
Should you then seek great things for yourself? Do not
seek them.
Jeremiah 45:5
Jesus called them together and said,“You know that those
who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over
them, and their high ofﬁcials exercise authority over them.
Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great
among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to
be ﬁrst must be slave of all”
Mark 10:42-45

Chapter 1:
An Honorable Ambition
Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an
overseer desires a noble task.
1 Timothy 3:1

Should you then seek great things for yourself? Do not
seek them.

Jeremiah 45:5
Jesus called them together and said,“You know that those

who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over
them, and their high ofﬁcials exercise authority over them.

Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great
among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to
be ﬁrst must be slave of all”
Mark 10:42-45

Is it right to want to be a leader? Think of some
Isn’t ambition a cause of pride, leaders who have
and of falling, in the life of
many leaders?
“failed” (they
What of Samson or Saul - called should be in the
by God yet dependent upon Bible and
their own ﬂesh and abilities
For Christians, what is the
Christians in
difference between “right” and ministry) - why did
“wrong” ambition? they fail?


Is it right to want to be a leader?
Isn’t ambition a cause of pride,
and of falling, in the life of
many leaders?
What of Samson or Saul - called
by God yet dependent upon
their own ﬂesh and abilities
For Christians, what is the
difference between “right” and
“wrong” ambition?


Godly ambition must carry a great
desire to be effective in serving
God - to realise God’s highest
desire for our lives - and ultimately
to bring the greatest glory to God.
Sanders illustrates the difference in
understanding what leadership
meant in Paul’s day and ours:
Today - leaders get prestige and
respect, honour
Previously - hardship, contempt,
rejection, even death. It was
dangerous and likely to be the ﬁrst
persecuted. (Still faced by some
today!)

Leadership was not for the
faint hearted, it needed
great courage and was not
easily undertaken - no
wonder Paul said it was an
honourable ambition.
Motives for leadership must
be right
“In Paul’s day only a deep
love for Christ and genuine
love for the church could
motivate people to lead.”
Be careful not to desire
leadership for the wrong
motives.

Jeremiah in speaking with Baruch
made sure he knew selﬁsh ambition
was wrong - don’t desire it for
yourself. Your motivation will
determine your ambitions
character.
A leader must:
•Develop their talents:
•Make the most of their lives
•Develop to the fullest their God-
given powers and capacities.


Jesus taught that ambition that
centers on the self is wrong.
Ambition that centers on the glory
of God and the welfare of other
believers is a mighty force for good.
Ambition comes from a Latin word
meaning “campaigning for
promotion” - it has the desire for
social visibility, popularity,
approval, peer recognition and a
desire to exercise authority over
others. It will lead to a desire for
money, power and authority. This is
not the way of Jesus - a true spiritual
leader will never be like this.

Jesus shows the standard for
ambition in Mk 10:42-44:
Jesus called them together and
said,“You know that those who are
regarded as rulers of the Gentiles
lord it over them, and their high
ofﬁcials exercise authority over them.
Not so with you. Instead, whoever
wants to become great among you
must be your servant, and whoever
wants to be ﬁrst must be slave of all.
“True leadership, true greatness is
found in giving yourself in service to
others, not in coaxing or inducing
others to serve you.”

True service costs you - it is a cup
full of challenge (Mk 10:38).
Real spiritual leadership focusses on
the service to God and to people not
on the perks of the office or title,
they put in more than they ever take
out.
“The final estimate of men shows
that history cares not an iota for the
rank or title a man has borne, or the
office he has held, but only the
quality of his deeds and the
character of his heart and mind”
Samuel Brengle

“Let it once be fixed that a
man’s ambition is to fit into
God’s plan for him, and he
has a North Star ever in
sight to guide him steadily
over any sea, however
shoreless it seems. He has a
compass which points
through the thickest fogs,
the fiercest storm and
regardless of magnetic
rocks”
SD Gordon


“I have one passion; it is He, He
alone.”
Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf
He founded the Moravian church
- a group which had three times
as many members overseas as
they did at home - 1 in every 92
Moravians left home and became
a missionary.


Ask yourself:
Is your ambition self centred
or God centred?
Is your ambition holy?
Who is the most inﬂuential
example of godly leadership
in your life, that you have
read of, in the Bible?


Chapter 2:
The search for leaders
No one from the east or the west
or from the desert can exalt
themselves.
It is God who judges: He brings one
down, he exalts another.
Psalm 75:6-7

“Real leaders are in short supply”


God searches for leaders too:
1 Samuel 13:14
But now your kingdom will not
endure; the LORD has sought out a
man after his own heart and
appointed him ruler of his people,
because you have not kept the
LORD’s command.”
Jeremiah 5:1
“Go up and down the streets of
Jerusalem, look around and consider,
search through her squares. If you
can ﬁnd but one person who deals
honestly and seeks the truth, I will
forgive this city.

Ezekiel 22:30
“I looked for someone among
them who would build up the wall
and stand before me in the gap on
behalf of the land so I would not
have to destroy it, but I found no
one.
God looks for leaders who are
fully committed as disciples,
prepared to take on responsibility
for others and then uses them to
the limit - in spite of failings, they
are still spiritual leaders! Leaders
require strength and faith beyond
the average.

“The church is
painfully in need of
leaders. I wait to hear
a voice and no one
comes. I would rather
listen than speak - but
there is no clarion
voice to listen to.”
William Sangster (Methodist
preacher)


For the church to be heard today
we need leaders who are:
Authoritative - know where they
are going and how they are
getting there.
Spiritual - a strong relationship
with God is needed in order to
lead people to God. There is a
need for the supernatural to
pervade our leadership. Majesty
and spiritual power should be
part of our proclamation.
Sacriﬁcial - following the same
sacriﬁcial model of Jesus Christ.

For the church to be heard today
we need leaders who are:
Authoritative - know where they
Authoritative
are going and how they are
Spiritual
getting there.
Spiritual - Sacrificial
a strong relationship
with God is needed in order to
Do you exemplify these
lead people to God. There is a
qualities?
need for the supernatural to
pervade our leadership. Majesty
Where do you need to
and spiritual power should be
grow in your leadership
part of our proclamation.
Sacrificial - following the same
sacrificial model of Jesus Christ.

High intellect, personal
forcefulness, enthusiasm -
qualities expected of leaders
today - but they do not deﬁne a
spiritual leader.
“True leaders must be willing to
suffer for the sake of objectives
great enough to demand their
wholehearted obedience”
God makes leaders - not letters
of appointment, or taking a
course, or being chosen by
people.


Often you see true leaders
have made decisions years
earlier to seek the Kingdom of
God - as they mature
physically and spiritually God
puts them in a leadership
position. God ﬁnds the person
and then confers upon them
the gift of the Holy Spirit to
enable them - Acts 9:17,
22:21


Samuel Brengle, a Salvation Army officer, said this
of the road to spiritual authority and leadership,
“It is not won by promotion, but by many prayers
and tears. It is attained by confession of sin and
much heart searching and humbling before God;
by self surrender, a courageous sacrifice of every
idol, a bold uncomplaining embrace of the cross,
and by eternally looking to Jesus crucified. It is
not gained by seeking great things for ourselves,
but like Paul, by counting those things which are
gain to us as loss for Christ. This is a great price,
but it must be paid by the leader whose power is
recognised and felt in heaven, on earth, and in
hell.”

2 Chron 16:9 For the eyes of
the LORD range throughout
the earth to strengthen those
whose hearts are fully
committed to him. You have
done a foolish thing, and from
now on you will be at war.”
Will you pay the high price
required for leadership? The
price is paid in the secret
place of your heart long
before you take ofﬁce. God
will search your heart, and
only then, will he call you to
leadership.

Sanders ﬁnishes with a warning,
“If those who hold
inﬂuence over others fail to
lead towards the spiritual
uplands, then surely the
path to the lowlands will be
well worn. People travel
together; no one lives
detached and alone. We
dare not take lightly God’s
call to leadership in our
lives.”

God prepared Moses for 80 years - how
has he been preparing you?
What do you think are the primary traits
of godly leadership?
What do you think of the ﬁnal warning
from Sanders?


Section 1 l challenge

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Section 1 l challenge